Verizon Q1: Wire-line Revenue Impacted by Wholesale Losses: Gains in FiOS, Enterprise Services
Verizon Q1 Revenue Gains in FiOS, Enterprise Services
Verizon Q1: Wire-line Revenue Impacted by Wholesale Losses: Gains in FiOS, Enterprise Services
Verizon declared its Q1 2012 earnings last week and as expected it saw gains in next-gen services like Verizon FiOS data and TV and business services like Ethernet and cloud. However the picture was clouded by a decline in wholesale revenue.
The company’s consumer revenues rose 1.7 percent to $3.4 billion. Its enterprise revenues also rose by 0.9 percent to $3.9 billion majorly due to its acquisition of cloud and data center provider Terremark.
However a decline of 8.9 percent in wholesale revenue drove the company’s overall wire-line revenue 2 percent to $9.9 billion while EBITDA margin decreased to 22,6 percent from 23.6 percent in 2011.
The Telco’s key wire-line metrics are as below:
- Landline losses: Verizon continued to lose POTS voice subscriptions as expected. In Q1 the Telco lost 437,000 voice line subscribers to end the quarter with total 23.7 million subscribers.
- Video and broadband: While DSL subscribers declined, in the consumer segment FiOS TV and FiOS broadband data continued to be Verizon’s shining stars. Total 104,000 broadband subscribers were added, taking its subscriber base to 8.8 million. Verizon added 108,000 new FiOS TV subscribers, taking the number of subscribers to 4.35 million. FiOS share in the company’s wire-line revenues was 63 percent.
- Business and wholesale services: Verizon’s global enterprise earnings saw an increase of 0.9 percent to $3.9 billion. The major contributors in this growth were robust sales of strategic services including security and IT solutions and Terremark cloud services. Strategic revenues grew by 11.6 percent and represented 51 percent of its global enterprise revenues although wholesale revenue declined by 8.9 percent to $1.86 billion.
Despite the losses, Verizon said it expects improvement in wire-line margins over the year because of repositioning its enterprise offers. Overall in Q1 2012 the company’s revenues rose 4.6 percent to $28.2 billion and its operating profits improved to $5.2 billion from last year’s $4.5 billion.
Verizon Reports Q1 Earnings: Revenues up 4.6%, 3.2 Million iPhones Sold
3.2 Million Verizon iPhones Sold
Verizon Reports Q1 Earnings: Revenues up 4.6%, 3.2 Million iPhones Sold
Last week Verizon Communications reported its first quarter earnings. The revenues were up 4.6 % to $28.2 billion for the same quarter last year. The company had added 193,000 Verizon Internet FiOS connections and 180,000 FiOS TV connections. It now has a customer base of over 5 million FiOS Internet subscribers.
Verizon Chairman and CEO, Lowell McAdam said that the company delivered double digit earnings growth and strong cash flow in this quarter. The momentum was built in 2011 and the company continued to perform well in key growth areas of business. Verizon wireless showed great growth and margins and the company produced another great quarter of FiOS growth. The company expects to concentrate more on FiOS growth in the next two quarters and gradually withdraw DSL services in markets where FiOS is well established.
He was confident that the company will improve the wire-line margins in the full year. Verizon’s repositioning of its enterprise solutions had leveraged its strengths in high growth markets and the company expects its enterprise business to become an even bigger contributor in overall wireline profitability and growth in the long run he added.
Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Vodafone and Verizon Communications. It saw an increase of 7.7% year on year increase in service revenue in the quarter. Verizon said that it sold 3.2 million iPhones in the quarter. There was also an 8.9% increase in retail service revenues which according to the company is the highest growth it has seen in past three years. The data revenues increased by 21.1%. The company also saw net additions of 734,000 retail customers for the quarter which also include an addition of 501,000 retail postpaid customers. The company’s customer churn remained low at 0.96%. The company’s total customer base stands at 88 million retails postpaid customers and 93 million retail customers.
Verizon Stops Selling DSL in Fiber Markets, Eyes More FiOS Price Hikes
Verizon Stops Selling DSL in Fiber FiOS Markets
Verizon Stops Selling DSL in Fiber Markets, Eyes More FiOS Price Hikes
According to Verizon Communications CFO, Fran Shammo, Verizon will be aiming to improve its wire-line unit’s profitability by no longer selling Verizon DSL over copper in areas where FiOS is available and hiking the price of FiOS bundles in the next two quarters.
In the first quarter of 2012, Verizon added 193,000 FiOS Internet and 180,000 TV subscribers but it also lost 89,000 DSL subscribers and 440,000 voice connections. Shammo supported Verizon’s plans to migrate from copper to fiber in FiOS markets as a way of providing long term benefits in operating costs. He said that in the long term it is better to take most of these customers from Verizon’s copper network to FiOS network. The benefit would be a decrease in the repairs and maintenance over time and an increase in the upselling capacity as these customers are included in the FiOS network and then in the linear TV product offered by Verizon. In the trials conducted by Verizon last year where it had migrated customers from copper to fiber, the company is beginning to see a 30% sale upgrade on those customers.
Bill Kula, Verizon’s spokesman said that for customers who are price sensitive and want to manage their monthly broadband expenses in FiOS only areas, the company offers a 3 Mbps down and 1 Mbps up FiOS Internet for $39.99 per month on a one year contract standalone basis.
On the other hand Verizon is raising the lease fees for FiOS TV DVRs by 6% in the New York metro area from $15.99 to $16.99 per month and the set top box rates by 17% to $6.99 monthly.
Shammo added that during the next two quarters Verizon would hike prices of several FiOS packages and rebundle certain packages to make them more profitable depending on the tier consumers pick.
At&t recently also started switching all of their At&t DSL customers to their fiber optic U-Verse product. We wrote about this in a earlier ISP 1 blog post. At&t Forcing DSL Customers To U-Verse – http://isp1.us/blog/att-forcing-dsl-customers-to-u-verse/
The very active At&t post has dozens of comments from former At&t DSL customers.
Categories: At&t, DSL, Fiber Optic, FiOS, U-Verse, Verizon Tags: AT&T U-Verse, DSL, fiber optic Internet, Verizon FiOS
Optical Delusion? Fiber Booms Again, Despite Bust
Optical Fiber Booms Again
Optical Delusion? Fiber Booms Again, Despite Bust
According to the research firm CRU group around 19 million miles of optical fiber were installed last year in the US, the most since the Internet bubble burst in 2000. Corning Inc, a leading maker of optical fiber has sold record volumes in the past year and has told customers it cannot guarantee that their orders would be filled.
These are still early days but some experts are calling this as a new boom for the fiber optics industry which has been through a rough patch till late. The demand has risen primarily due to exploding Internet video traffic, requests from the finance sector for faster trading connections and increasing mobile phone use which needs to be tied to land line networks. The 2009 economic stimulus package had set aside $7.2 billion for telecom projects also helped.
Some skeptics have cautioned whether there is enough demand to build more. On one hand trading firms are ready to pay more for faster connections and on the other hand some worry that new government regulations regarding high frequency trading could shrink the market. Skeptics also query how high mobile traffic would materialize given the huge cost involved in delivering wireless data.
Cisco systems predict that mobile data traffic will almost double by the year 2015. But Andrew Odlyzko, a math professor at the University of Minnesota who had warned almost a decade ago about slower Internet growth than expected, says the predictions about skyrocketing mobile traffic are overly optimistic. He is of the opinion that mobile bandwidth is expensive to increase. Each cell phone data connection runs through a phone company’s cell phone tower into a landline telecom network.
Although there is a buzz in the fiber Internet industry, some companies are not overly excited as they are wary of the 2001 collapse which wiped out millions of dollars in stock value.
At&t U-Verse Fiber Internet
Verizon FiOS Fiber Internet
Categories: At&t, Fiber Optic, FiOS, Internet News, U-Verse, Verizon Tags: AT&T U-Verse, fiber optic Internet, Verizon FiOS
New Jersey Presses Verizon About Wireline Voice Service Issues, Broadband Commitment
New Jersey Presses Verizon About Wireline Voice Service Issues
New Jersey Presses Verizon About Wireline Voice Service Issues, Broadband Commitment
Verizon like its counterpart DSL providers AT&T and CenturyLink continues to see the revenue from its core voice service decline but New Jersey’s board of Public Utilities are questioning the quality of their PSTN service provided by Verizon.
There is a spurt in complaints against the states PSTN service although there has been a decline in the number of subscribers from 6.7 million in 2000 to below 2.5 million in 2012. The board wants to know the reasons for high volume in complaints. Also the board wants to know why Verizon has not delivered its promise of providing Verizon DSL service to 50,000 residential Internet users in the state of New Jersey.
Stefanie brand, Director of Division of Rate Counsel said, “The reasons for a high number of complaints against Verizon’s copper network is because the carrier is distracted by its expanding FiOS network and wireless service and paying less attention to its other services. Keeping their copper network is an expense for Verizon as they now want to focus fully on their FiOS network and wireless systems,” she added.
Lowell McAdam, Chairman and CEO of Verizon and the former Verizon president said last week that the company would be launching a new streaming video service which can be used by its FiOS network, wireless systems and cable partner customers on their smart phones and tablets. However the launch of this new service depends on whether Verizon manages to get government approvals for its $3.6 million spectrum purchase and marketing deal with Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications and Bright Communications.
Verizon’s deal however has met with strong opposition from users, other service providers and community groups especially those from the northeast as they feel that if the deal goes through then they will never get the benefits of Verizon’s FiOS service.
Categories: DSL, FiOS, Internet Access Article, Internet News, New Jersey, Verizon Tags: DSL, fios, new jersey, Verizon
Verizon-Cable Deal Raises Major Concerns
Verizon-Cable Deal Raises Major Concerns
Verizon-Cable Deal Raises Major Concerns, According to Public Knowledge
The debate about Verizon’s bid to purchase spectrum from its competitors is still not over even after last week’s hearing which tried to throw some light on the issue. Verizon Wireless had announced in December 2011 a deal to buy unused spectrum from Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications, Comcast and Bright House Communications for over 3.6 billion dollars.
However public opposition to the deal seems to be growing. Numbers of public interest groups and other wireless carriers like T-Mobile and Sprint have been arguing their cases quite vocally. They even filed a petition in court to stall the deal. The groups argued in the petition that the proposed deal would change the fundamental nature of telecommunications in the US in a manner which contradicts the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
In the first place companies have agreed to sell more spectrum to the largest spectrum holder in the country further aggravating the anti-competitive spectrum problem and secondly these companies have critical side agreements which give rise to serious concerns when these companies actively collude with each other and further decline to compete.
During last week’s hearing the antitrust committee of the Senate Judiciary Committee tried to find out if the group of cable companies had tried to reach other companies before Verizon. But that question remained unanswered.
Senator Herb Kohl, chairman of the antitrust subcommittee questioned Verizon and other cable companies if they had called a truce and are standing down as rivals. He feared that the deal would undo all the hard work done in maintaining healthy competition over the years. He noted that Verizon has no incentive in the deal as its affiliates would be selling Time Warner or Bright House or Comcast. Verizon would not be able to build or improve its product. He also added that there would be a decrease in competition for FiOS and since most places do not have Verizon FiOS they would have to endure with slow DSL Internet or cable options.
Categories: Bright House, Cable Internet, Comcast, DSL, FiOS, Internet News, Time Warner Cable, Verizon Tags: bright house, cox, DSL, fios, Time Warner, Verizon
What is Broadband Internet?
What is Broadband?
What Is Broadband Internet?
by Dan Karas
Can you even imagine the world without the Internet? Can you imagine living without the ability to turn on your computer and use the World Wide Web as an omnipotent and omniscient tool that it is? Well, you will probably have a negative answer to the previous two questions. However, you will also have a negative answer to the following question: what exactly is broadband Internet? Sure, a lot of people will say that this is the type of Internet connection they have set up at their homes or offices, but this doesn’t really answer the question, does it?
So, What Is Broadband Internet?
Technically speaking the FCC currently defines broadband Internet as a connection that is faster than 4 Mbps. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadband_Internet_access However, the more common definition is anything that is faster than a traditional 56 K dial up Internet connection. In most cases, it is true to tell people that broadband, also commonly called high speed Internet is the type of Internet connection they are using, as this really is the most commonly used type of Internet connection throughout the USA and the entire world. In addition to this, it is also true to say that this is the form of Internet access that offers the highest Internet connection speeds at the moment, and when compared to dial-up connection, broadband Internet is the obvious choice.
Types of High Speed Internet
There are five types of broadband Internet, and below they are listed and explained:
- DSL – The Digital Subscriber Line Internet access is a type of Internet connection that comes to you through your telephone line. Contrary to what many people may think, you can use your Internet and your phone at the same time, as voice and Internet connection travel at different frequencies which are commonly separated by a device called a DSL splitter. DSL speeds range from 256 Kbps to over 6 Mbps, although the distance that you are located from the telephone companies CO will affect the speed that will be available.
- Cable – If you have Cable TV, you can probably ask your Cable TV provider for Cable Internet. Currently DOCSIS 3.0 cable connections can provide the fastest consumer Internet connections, with some cable companies such as Comcast offering speeds of over 100 Mbps in select areas. With Cable Internet, your connection speed will depend on how many users are using the same connection bandwidth at any specific moment. So, you will not have the same Internet connection speed in the mornings and in the evenings, as the evenings will be characterized by more active users, thus a somewhat slower connection.
- Satellite – Even though the satellite Internet connection is the slowest and the most expensive type of broadband Internet to set up, it is the only option for many who live in areas where other types of broadband Internet are not available. The connection speed will in this case may depend on weather conditions, and the speed will generally be lower than with the other three types of broadband Internet. Satellite Internet is also a poor choice for gaming due to the high latency (delay) of the signal. This is due to the extreme distance that the signal needs to travel from the earth to the satellite and back.
- Wireless – Wireless Internet is available from cellular providers such as Verizon, At&t, Sprint, etc. It currently comes in two flavors of 3G and 4G. 3G or third generation wireless is the most widespread and offers speeds comparable to low end DSL services. 4G or as you may have guessed fourth generation wireless is the new kid on the block and boasts much higher speeds. Even though the 4 G wireless network is expanding rapidly there are still relatively few locations providing widespread 4G coverage. Wireless broadband Internet is very convenient; however its Achilles heel is the low usage limits as compared to DSL and cable plans. Most wireless providers charge outrageous overage fees or throttle your connection to a crawl when you exceed these modest bandwidth limits.
- Fiber-optic – This is the least used, as well as the one of the fastest broadband Internet connections out of the four types mentioned here. The reason why it is the least used is the fact that not many areas have fiber-optic Internet connections available yet. However, where it is available, its cost is very competitive with standard DSL and Cable, but provides much higher connection speeds. There are a couple of types of fiber optic Internet connections. FTTH (Fiber To The Home) This is the type of connection used by Verizon FiOS which brings the fiber all the way to your house, if you get the At&t U-Verse version it is FTTK (Fiber To The Kerb/Curb) which uses copper from the curb to your house. Both Fiber connections provide ADSL2+ Internet speeds of up to 50 Mbps and can also provide on demand HD television and digital telephone service on the same line.
In order to choose one of these types of broadband Internet, you will first have to check and see which of them are available in your area. Some Internet services, particularly DSL, are very distance sensitive. For example you might qualify for a specific level of service while your next door neighbor doesn’t. Not all Internet service providers will offer the same conditions, so you will also have to shop around before you make the final decision. You’ll want to pick the fastest broadband plan that fits your budget. In some areas this can be 100 Mbps+. But these extremely high end broadband plans are also extremely expensive. You may find that a plan in the 5 to 25 Mbps range might satisfy your Internet service needs at a much lower cost that won’t break your monthly budget.
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Find Broadband Internet in Your Area
Categories: Broadband, Cable Internet, DSL, FiOS, Internet Access Article, Satellite Internet, Wireless Tags: Broadband, Cable, Dial-Up, DSL, fiber, Satellite, Wireless
TV Coming to Xbox via Verizon FiOS Internet
Verizon FiOS Internet
TV Coming to Xbox via Verizon FiOS Internet
Microsoft and Xbox are teaming together to offer television to Xbox LIVE subscribers. Verizon FiOS Internet and TV access will be available to Xbox LIVE Gold subscribers. Customers will be able to watch a variety of live television channels straight from their game console. Another cool feature is that customers will be able to integrate their TV experience using the Xbox 360 Kinect.
Starting next month there will be an application on the Xbox dashboard where customers can select TV and stream 26 live channels straight to their TV from their console. There is no need for a cable box or any other hardware. In order for the service to be available customers must be subscribed to both Verizon FiOS Television and Internet.
According to StopTheCap!, Verizon is offering a discount.
“New customers who sign up online for FiOS TV service can take advantage of a special offer that includes triple-play service with FiOS TV, FiOS 35/35 Mbps Internet service and Verizon voice service, starting at $89.99 a month. In addition, the offer includes a 12-month Xbox LIVE Gold Membership and the “Xbox Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary” game. The discounted offer is available through Jan. 21.”
The actual full price cost for this service as well as usage limits have not yet been released, but we are looking forward to finding out more from Verizon on this feature sometime later this month.
Categories: FiOS, Verizon Tags: Verizon FiOS, Xbox
New Verizon FiOS Deals for September
Verizon FiOS Deals
New Verizon FiOS Deals for September.
As of September 11, 2011 Verizon is beginning to offer some very competitive and money saving deals on it’s FiOS Internet.
Two of the major deals that are available to the public as of today are the FiOS Triple Play Deal, and the FiOS Double Play Deal.
Both have no term agreements or contracts. These packages are meant to appeal to those who want to try Verizon’s services without dealing with complicated contracts and commitment.
Verizon’s FiOS Triple Play Deal:
The Triple Play Deal includes Verizon FiOS Television, Internet, and Phone. The price? Only $89.99 per month for 2 years with no contract. A free wireless router is included if you order online and there are no activation fees.
Verizon’s FiOS Double Play Deal:
With home phones becoming obsolete and most companies forcing a phone line into the “bundle” package, it was about time someone came out with a deal for only cable and internet. Verizon is really stepping up to the plate with their Double Play Deal, which includes TV and Internet for $74.99 per month for the first year.
Both deals are available as of 9/11/11 and extend throughout mid November. FiOS is fairly new, but quickly expanding so be aware that there are some neighborhoods that have yet to gain access to it. Verizon also offers many Wireless Internet Plans for those who are always on the go.
Categories: FiOS, Internet News, Verizon Tags: Verizon FiOS
Comcast Usage Caps Ruining Families?
Comcast Usage Caps
Comcast Usage Caps Ruining Families?
Jrodefeld and his family have been loyal Comcast customers for over seven years. The family was recently told that if they exceed their 250 GB usage cap once more than they will be suspended from Internet service for a whole year.
Comcast claims Jrodefeld and many of their other subscribers are “Internet Abusers” for exceeding the usage limits the company has put in place. Jrodefeld and other families claim that they shouldn’t have to monitor their Internet usage for fear of being “cut off” when they are paying good money to receive the services.
According to Jrodefeld
“In my house there are five people with five computers, several smartphones, a Playstation 3 and AppleTV all connected to the Internet through a wireless router. Several of us are tech minded people who need to be able to send and receive large amounts of data through our network and publish material on the Internet.
Not only that, but I have (legally) downloaded films through places like iTunes and downloaded games and software in the same manner. I create digital content (web pages, animation, other content) and publish it on the Internet. Not only that, but I send this content to friends and colleagues through web hosting sites like Netload. I download games and watch streaming Netflix through my Playstation 3.
I think it is absolutely beyond belief that Comcast can offer the speeds that they do, with the evolving demands of the Internet and modern digital demands that people have, and think that 250 GB is sufficient for even the moderately tech savvy user. This data cap is absolutely horrible and is an insult to my family and an abomination given how much money we have given to Comcast over the last several years for their service, amounting in the thousands of dollars. Not to mention that we signed up with the idea of getting an “always on”, unlimited service.”
Comcast claims that most of their users stay far under 10 GB each month. There is no demographic user breakdown for what the “average” customer’s household is like. Jrodefeld and other unhappy customers feel that “it is ridiculous to put our families into this one size fits all Internet experience”.
While Comcast Cable hasn’t yet found a solution to the problem experienced by Jrodefeld many customers are switching to business plans to avoid the consequences of exceeding usage limits.
Verizon FiOS seems to be the best alternative for families in Jrodefeld’s situation because the company offers unlimited Internet service.
Categories: Cable Internet, Comcast, FiOS, Internet News Tags: Comcast, Usage Caps, Verizon FiOS
